In the 1920s, the Lafayette Grill Café was positioned on a busy spot on Hyde Park Ave close to the Lafayette Arcade, The Tampa Bay Hotel (now the University of Tampa), and not far from downtown and Davis Islands. In 1938, the spot became The Retreat. In 1996, the owners refurbished and rebranded the place as Alibi’s. After that, it became the Peanut Gallery and, in 2002, The Mousetrap Lounge. It has since regained its name as Retreat and is still operating today, claiming to be Tampa’s oldest dive bar.

The building now shares its corner with The Oxford Exchange, which most recently ran O.E. Market Café there but closed in late 2014. It first operated as a sandwich shop and switched to a build-your-own taco place but closed when the business needed the space and personnel.

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